Self-help for the Apocalypse

March, 2023. It’s been quite a well since my last blog post. Anything happened in the world in the last few years? Let’s see, there was a pandemic, a war, a megalomaniac… Hope everyone is moving forward with grace and vitality after these challenges. In my world, lots has been happening and is happening. I’m teaching a class, “Writing Our Spiritual Lives” through the new Neohumanist College of Asheville (NHCA). This begins March 9 and continues weekly through April. We’ll be working on spiritual memoir and essays, reading some great writers, and workshopping each other’s writing. Looking forward to it! I also am in the thick of two book projects. One, tentatively titled “Songs of the New Dawn” is a book of translations of Bengali spiritual poetry, but the great Indian mystic, teacher and songwriter, P R Sarkar. These songs are so beautiful, and I wanted to try to offer some lyrical, literary translations of a few of them. Exciting addition to this project: dear friend Kindle Corwell is illustrating the book with gorgeous drawings. Proceeds from sales of the book will go toward several service projects. Look for it to be coming out, I hope, this spring. The other book project deals with how we live in a time of crisis – living with grace, purpose and a sense of service, as we navigate these troubling times. Climate change, public health, political and economic crises, crises of values, this book has got ’em all! It offers insights and suggestions for personal and collective action and care in a time that seems pretty confusing. I hope it will come out in a year or so. (The working title is “Self-help for the Apocalypse.” Still musing over that. Let me know your opinion on whether you think it’s a good idea to bring that light touch to a serious subject, or whether I need ‘gravitas.’) Finally, I’ve been doing a lot of work with Proutist Universal, and their efforts to encourage a shift in values and economic policies toward more economic democracy, worker-owned businesses, a cap on wealth, and other cool ideas. Check out our web page at Prout.info. All for now. Til the next emergence! A